Juan Zapata to mayor: 'Where's the money?' and 'Cut taxes'

As we get closer to the September budget hearings on Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s annual budget, several commissioners are getting ready to make some suggested changes.

And the most drastic of these is a call for a tax cut from Commissioner Juan Zapata.

Zapata met with Gimenez Wednesday morning to ask for a lower tax rate due to the $120 million plus in additional property tax revenue due the county this year.

“Miami-Dade County experienced a 9 percent revenue growth in 2015, which has failed to translate into a benefit for the taxpayers,” Zapata said in a statement.

“This morning I met with Mayor Carlos Gimenez to discuss the FY 2015-2016 budget, and challenged him to seek operational efficiencies and provide our citizens with much needed tax relief in the form of decreasing the millage rate. The opportunity to decrease the millage rate is one that will not be present in next year’s budget, which is why the administration must capitalize on these favorable times to provide tax relief now,” Zapata stated.

But he knows he is barking up the wrong tree.

Zap told Ladra he knew there was no appetite or support on the commission for a tax break. Gimenez has already said he is not willing to cut the tax rate further. And can you blame him? This time last year, he was threatening to close libraries down and fire 700 employees, including hundreds of police officers. Today he has enough of a surplus so he can even cut the grass more often, as he likes to repeat over and over. He’s not about to go back to those lean times when he had to close some libraries on at least one weekday.

That’s why Ladra thinks Zap’s statement is more likely damage control after a Univision story that aired Tuesday about his $30,000 Harvard class in public administration, a class that the taxpayers paid before he reimbursed the county.

But I also think that story was planted in Erika Carillo’s ear. Because it is timed perfectly to throw a cloud over one of the mayor’s biggest budget critics, the only commissioner pushing for the commission to have its own budget director to explain the shell game the mayor likes to play.

Zapata has been outspoken about the budget before. Consistently. This year, he sent an email to his constituents Aug. 6 before the Aug. 11 budget town hall meeting in his district, suggesting questions that people could ask about the vacancies in police at the Hammocks station and stalled transportation projects. The email was particularly critical of the mayor.

“For far too long this community has paid disproportionately higher taxes when compared to the services and attention received. Projects such as the expansion of 142nd Avenue, or the development of West Kendall Regional Park have failed to break ground. Our police force at the Hammocks Police Station is regularly short staffed, which limits their ability to respond efficiently. Mayor Gimenez has even failed to champion our expansive connectivity plan, which includes the creation of bike paths, in sharp contrast to projects in the eastern portions of Miami-Dade County such as the Underline and Ludlam Trail.

I encourage you to attend the Town Hall and ask Mayor Gimenez what funding has been identified in this year’s budget to resolve the aforementioned issues. In addition to budget concerns, I would also encourage questions on the Mayor’s stance on the incorporation of our community and what he and his administration are doing to attract high paying jobs to the West End. Collectively, our concerns will hold the Mayor accountable to his promises.”

Payback’s a bitch, Zap: So someone pointed the TV reporter to his recent Ivy League studies, which are nothing new to the county and certainly doesn’t warrant a two-part series. Several commissioners have taken classes — some even the same course at Harvard — and had it paid by the county. Ladra made a public records request for those documents Wednesday morning and didn’t have them Wednesday night.

It was a classic media move to cut him down. But it’s not going to shut Zapata up. He is going to be asking the mayor and Budget Director Jennifer Glazier Moon where the $120 million disappeared to so quickly.

“There’s a lot of new money in the budget and it concerns me that it’s all used up already,” Zapata told Ladra. “How can we have so much new money and its gone already? UMSA has a surplus of an additional $120 million. Where is that money going? It’s impossible to track.

“How do you have a nine percent property tax increase and it evaporates? Why don’t we give some money back to the taxpayer? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

I’ll tell you what, Zap. Let the taxpayer tell you where to spend it. We have lots of need for those funds. We’d like to see more libraries restored to their six-day weeks and we want to see more police officers on the street. And we want to fund the Pets’ Trust plan because we think that is what will get us closer to a no-kill status quicker.

Just because Gimenez isn’t spending the surplus right doesn’t mean that it can’t be. The commission has the power to tell the administration where to put those $120 million. Don’t give them back. But spend them more wisely.

Carlos Gimenez, Juan Zapata, Miami-Dade budget

Juan Zapata to mayor: ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Cut taxes’ added by Ladra on August 26, 2015
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